a thing i find really interesting about kelsier is that he's a villain trope written as a hero, and the villain trope in question is the "there's this revolutionary person with a lot of good points, but oh they're too murdery about it so they're the bad guy" one. which is a trope that MEGA sucks, and is also FASCINATING to write as a heroic character. like on a meta level. it makes sense to me to frame kelsier as a character in this way because brandon sanderson has written multiple other characters who play that trope more straight (e.g., miles hundredlives, moash), and has said that kelsier is the type of character he'd typically write as a villain.
this isn't really either a compliment or a criticism towards mistborn (though it is an element of a broader critique of how brandon sanderson writes about social issues in the cosmere). it's just really interesting to me. and also contributes to me being extremely defensive of kelsier.
it's a trope that's like, this character would be a good guy except for this one factor. so it's sooooooo interesting to see like. a character who seems to be written with that trope in mind and who fits it well but IS actually portrayed as (anti-)heroic, especially by an author who in subsequent works plays the trope more straight.
